Giving a Man a Chance
by Sparky75
Summary: A one-shot set in S9. When Beth comes home to the flat she shares with Ruth one evening slightly the worse for wear, her comments about Harry get Ruth thinking.


_Just a quick one-shot set in s9 to celebrate the birthday of Sir Harry. I hope you enjoy and any feedback or comments on this would be gratefully received._

* * *

"So what's the story with you two?"

Ruth looked up bewildered, caught by surprise at the unexpected question, "I'm sorry, what?

"You and Harry," Beth had just returned to the flat she shared with Ruth from an evening out with friends and had come back to a familiar scenario, Ruth sat alone at the dining room table, glass of wine in hand, pouring over some work and just finishing what sounded like a overly painful conversation with Harry that was ostensibly about work, but was so full of double meanings, at least from the half of the conversation she'd overheard, that it was surprising that either of them had a real clue what the actual topic of conversation was. "What's the story?"

"There's no story," Ruth took a sip of her wine and looked at her flatmate mutinously.

"Oh come on," Beth said with a teasing lilt to her voice, feeling bolder than she normally would having been helped along by the bottle of wine she'd consumed earlier that evening, "there's obviously something." She took a large sip of the wine she'd just poured herself straight after arriving home as Ruth was saying her awkward goodbyes to Harry, before slouching on the nearest armchair, "bad breakup between the two of you was it?"

"What? No!"

"Well what is it then?" Beth sat up straight in her chair, "oh God, don't tell me he made an unwanted pass at you?"

Ruth shook her head warningly, "No, bu..."

"Then you made a pass at him?"

"Beth," Ruth spoke clearly and there was a layer of steel in her tone, "we're not having this conversation."

Her flatmate continued undeterred as if she hadn't spoken, "no, it's not that. There's no way on earth Harry would have turned you down if you'd have made a pass at him."

"Beth!" Ruth turned scarlet, "Harry, me, it's absolutely nothing to do with you."

"Aha, so there is something then." Beth took another large gulp of her wine, "I just don't get it, that's all. You spend hours covertly looking at each other across the Grid, half the time you act like you're married. You bot..."

"We do not act like we're married." Ruth butted in angrily.

"Oh come on. You spend half your time bickering and the other half finishing off each others sentences."

"Now you're just being ridiculous."

"Me being ridiculous!" Beth laughed, "I'm not that one who spends each night alone in my flat on the phone to the person I obviously want to be with, and then goes to bed alone."

Ruth covered her face with her hands, trying desperately to block out the words Beth was saying. "You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," she muttered quietly.

Beth took another large mouthful of her drink, "I just don't get it that's all. He likes you, you like him, what's the big deal? Go out to dinner, go and see a film, fall asleep on the sofa together... anything's got to be better than what you're doing now."

"You're drunk."

Beth smiled cheerfully, "Yes, I probably am. It doesn't mean I'm not telling the truth though."

Ruth took a sip of her own wine, "it's complicated," she murmured, more to herself than to Beth.

"So what, that's life... life is complicated" Beth looked over at her. "Neither of you are getting any younger. He's got baggage, you've got baggage, I've got baggage, hell everyone over the age of twenty has baggage of some sort or other, and they don't let that stop them." She stood up and wandered over to the kitchen to put her empty glass in the sink, "I just don't get it that's all. If I had someone who felt about me the way Harry obviously feels about you, then unless he was loitering about on death row then I'd be giving him a chance... especially if I was in love with him."

"Love?"

"What else would you call it," Beth shrugged her shoulders, "give the poor bloke a chance, you might actually find that he makes you happy."

Ruth looked down at the table, "I'm not talking about this with you Beth, it has nothing at all to do with you." She looked up at the sound of the door closing to find that her words had fallen on deaf ears, Beth having seemingly staggered to her room to sleep away her excesses of the evening.

She suddenly felt hollow in the stomach, Beth's words were replaying themselves over and over again in her head. She grasped the bottle in front of her and poured herself another large glass; anger running through her at the disbelief of what Beth had said to her... what she'd allowed Beth to say to her, and yet as she sat down on the sofa , staring into space and clutching her glass of wine like a lifeline, she began to analyse her words, and into that, something Harry had said to her the other evening permeated her thoughts as well, quickly becoming mixed up with Beth's comments. 'Sometimes you have to give a man a chance, Ruth. To show you who he really is.'

Three hours later she fell into a restless sleep, still sat on the sofa, still clutching the same glass of wine and with the same comment from Harry still running around her head.

* * *

Ruth looked up across the Grid, her eyes felt gritty with tiredness, but she felt more at peace with herself than she had in a long time. The Grid was virtually empty, it was just past 7.30pm and most people had left an hour or so ago, taking advantage of the relative quietness of their workload to spend either an evening at home with family and friends, or to go out on the town. In previous weeks she would have left with them, gone home to carry on working there. She hadn't stayed late at the office with only Harry there since his ill-timed proposal a few weeks ago.

From her current viewpoint at her desk Harry looked to be deep in thought, he was pouring over various documents and squinting occasionally as he tried to make out the small print. A wave of warmth ran through her and she decided now was as good a time as any to follow through on the resolution she had made to herself that morning, when she'd been woken by Beth, still lying on the sofa where she'd spent a restless night tossing and turning in her sleep . Beth had handed her a mug of tea and quickly apologised for her alcohol fuelled conversation the previous night, before disappearing through the front door saying something about meeting an asset. Ruth opened the drawer to her desk and took out the small box sitting in there, before making her way over to Harry's office.

Harry looked up from his work as he heard a rap of knuckles against the door before it slid open. He quirked his lips into a wry smile, "I take it the world is about to end and we've just had official confirmation through?"

"What... no?" Ruth was completely bemused, she shook her head slightly, "sorry, have I missed something?"

Harry indicated towards the door with his head, "you actually knocking for once." He noticed the look on her face and sighed, "sorry, it was supposed to be a joke..."

Ruth laughed lightly as the reference suddenly made sense, "no, the world is ticking along exactly as it should be... for once."

Silence spread over the room as Harry put the papers he had been reading back onto his desk and Ruth hovered just inside the door after sliding it closed behind her.

"So... what can I help you with?" Harry asked after a few moments had passed and Ruth still hadn't said anything. He was rather surprised she was still on the Grid and even more surprised that she'd ventured into his office when no one else was around. He suddenly felt a wave of nausea pass through him, maybe she'd come to hand him her resignation. He let out a small sigh of relief as he quickly ran his eyes over her and found no evidence of an envelope or letter, instead he noticed, her hands were holding a small blue box and she was passing it nervously from one hand to another

"What oh..." Ruth's eyes darted to the decanter of whisky sat behind his desk, her courage seemed to have deserted her momentarily and she suddenly felt the need for a little Dutch help. "Would you mind if I had a drink Harry?"

He stood up, ever more curious as to what was on her mind, "of course not." He poured them both a generous measure before picking up the glasses and walking towards the sofa like contraption at the front of his office. He handed a glass over to her, noticing that she took a big sip as soon as she had it in her hand. "What's going on Ruth?"

"I … er...well"

"Can you at least sit down," he smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring manner, "you're making me nervous."

She laughed briefly and sat the glass down on the table in front of her, before sitting down herself. "Sorry," she smiled at him, though her eyes wouldn't meet his. She picked up her glass and took another large mouthful before haltingly beginning to speak, "I'm not very good at this..." she began slowly.

Harry looked over at her, she was still refusing to meet his eye, "take your time," he said softly, "I'm not in any hurry."

"I had a whole speech worked out in my head," she started, "but now..."

Harry looked over her, she looked pale and tired and a sudden thought struck him, "you're not ill are you?"

Ruth looked up at him in surprise, her eyes finally meeting his. "What? No." she shook her head, "I'm fine."

"Then what is it Ruth?" He leant over towards her slightly and briefly touched her arm with his fingers before quickly pulling them away. "You're starting to make me worried."

"It's nothing like that." She handed the small box that she'd been clutching tightly in her hands over to him, "since I'm not explaining myself very well, maybe this will help."

He took the box from her, noticing her trembling hand as she let it go from her grasp. "It's not my birthday is it? I haven't got all my dates mixed up"

She shook her head, "No, not quite... this isn't a birthday present."

He looked down at the small box in his hands, it was plain and blue and gave no clue as to what he would find in there. "Can I open it?"

Ruth nodded, "please do," she said softly. Hoping upon hope that he'd understand what she was trying to say when he saw the contents.

Harry slowly teased the box open and then stopped, his features tightened and his lips pursed. He reached over and took a large mouthful of whisky before trusting himself to speak. "Is this supposed to be some sort of joke?"

"What. No. Why would you think that?"

"You've just given me a pair of wedding rings... what am I supposed to think."

"It's not a joke Harry."

"Well then what is it?" He looked at her, his eyes suddenly slightly brighter, "you want to get married?"

She shook her head, " No... well at least not yet."

Harry leaned forward putting his elbows on his knees, while pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes. "Ruth I'm well aware that we both have a particular habit of skating around anything that could be seen as emotional, but please help me out here. I've got no idea what you're trying to say to me."

Ruth took a deep breath before reaching over to take a hold of his hand, "I'm sorry, I haven't been very clear. You asked me the other day to give you a chance, to let you show me who you really are."

Harry looked over at her and nodded softly, "yes," he breathed.

"Well this is me trying to give you that chance," she laughed gently, "though obviously not explaining it to you very well."

"You want us to...?" Harry trailed off, still not exactly understanding what she wanted from him.

"I want us to give each other a chance," she began slowly. "I want us to get to know each other properly, spend time together outside of here and then if we still feel the same way about each other in a years time, then..."

"Then?"

"Then I'd like us to use the wedding rings... or get some other ones if you don't like them."

Harry looked over at her a smile blossoming across his face, "are you sure about this?"

"I'm sure," she nodded firmly, a smile on her lips "are you?"

He nodded, "yes."

They looked at each other, hands clasped tightly together, their smiles each mirroring the other. "So where do we go from here?" Harry asked quietly.

"I don't know," she laughed lightly, "I hadn't thought that far ahead. I was too busy worrying about how you'd react to the rings!"

Harry grinned, "well how about we start with dinner now?" He stood up, pulling her up alongside him meaning they were stood only a hairsbreadth away from each other, "and we can work out the rest from there?"

"That sounds lovely." She squeezed his hand and reached up to kiss him softly on his lips, "and thank you."

"For what?"

"For not giving up on me." She kissed him again, a little longer and a little softer this time and he responded, equally as hesitantly before they broke apart and she pulled him towards the door of his office. "Now lets go and find somewhere to eat."

THE END


End file.
